God Help Us All

Of the fourteen "Latest News" headlines on the CNN website at this moment, included are:

. . .Woman guilty of slicing fetus from womb
. . .NASA mum on plane data that would scare you
. . .Man allegedly killed wife with skin patch
. . .Worms gobble up toxic waste
. . .How the Dalai Lama fell in love with grits

I'm inclined to view grits and toxic waste as one and the same, but that's not my point today.

Comcast.net is no better. They have seven headlines, including:

. . .Woman guilty of slicing fetus from womb
. . .Parrot imitates alarm, saves family
. . .Britney's friends 'Boycott her album'
. . .Osmond collapses on 'Dancing'

I despair. I thought I was sitting at my desk, about to read serious news. But no, I seem to be in the check-out line at the supermarket.

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Comments

Juliann in WA said…
It is a wonder what will grab people's interest - seems the more obscure or gross, the more appealing. I try to get past that News pages on hotmail as quickly as I can.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 9:41:00 AM
The Calico Cat said…
& this is why I don't watch, read, or actively listen to the news...
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 11:26:00 AM
DPUTiger said…
1. You'd think the SoCal wildfires would be near the top of those lists. That is going to be a very sad, very dangerous situation before it's all over with.
2. At least if you're reading online, you just have to see the headline and don't have to click on or wait out the airing of the stories. I switched to NPR news permanently when every other "news" station in LA spent four days talking about nothing but Anna Nicole Smith's death.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 12:48:00 PM
Tanya said…
Yes, and when I went to Yahoo to check out the how the fires were going in California I'm met with a bunch of people I don't know and (sorry) don't really care about. Britney, Brad, Paris and Jennifer. Japanese "news" is no better. "Real" news is so depressing or rather frightening I wonder if I'd rather read about horrors or drivel...
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 7:16:00 PM
Mrs. Goodneedle said…
Take it easy on the grits now...
Wednesday, October 24, 2007 1:31:00 PM
Greg said…
It's all about the bottom line. Sadly.
Thursday, October 25, 2007 8:31:00 PM
LoieJ said…
Apparently the news-on-the-web people keep track of what we click on and what we email to other people, assuming that means that we are voting for that item to be the most important news. They claim they are giving us what we want. Sometimes I click on the news of the odd just as a way to look for a laugh.

Whenever there is a bad occurance that seems to take over CNN 24/7, I always wonder what else is going on that is being missed.

When 9-1-1 happened, an acquaintance said she saw nothing about a van carrying 8 students who died in a crash ever hit the news.
Friday, October 26, 2007 11:10:00 AM
Susan said…
The dumbing down of America. But that's okay. If you *got* any news, it wouldn't be accurate.
Sunday, October 28, 2007 12:56:00 AM
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